Grazed from Forbes. Author: Alex Lesser.

Fueled by mounting storage requirements, ease of use, automatic software updates and users’ thirst for limitless access and maximum flexibility, cloud computing has grown exponentially over the past several years. In fact, since 2009, spending on cloud computing has been growing at a rate that is 4.5 times faster than the rate of IT spending, and it’s expected to exceed six times the rate from 2015 to 2020.

This is certainly because there are many situations in which utilizing the cloud makes sense. The most obvious would be in a small startup operating on a lean budget where cash flow is tight. This is because cloud computing allows access to resources without large capital expenditures. The cloud can also be an option for enterprises of all sizes as it relates to disaster recovery…

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: James Bourne.

Google says it has tripled the number of its big cloud deals year over year as its parent company Alphabet announced revenues of $26 billion (£19.9bn) for the most recent quarter. In a call with analysts, Google CEO Sundar Pichai – who it was also announced is joining the Alphabet board of directors – discussed the company’s ‘impressive’ cloud assets.

“[Google Cloud Platform] continues to experience impressive growth across products, sectors and geographies and increasingly with large enterprise customers in regulated sectors,” he said, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “To be more specific about our momentum with big customers, in Q2 the number of new deals we closed worth more than $0.5 million is three times what it was last year,” Pichai added…

Organizations transitioning to modern data centers and cloud-based environments must reevaluate their security investments, yet leverage tools, processes and skills already in place. Lacework’s partnerships with threat and reputation feeds, security information and event management (SIEM) vendors and event management systems, extends the company’s zero-touch security approach and delivers a solution that matches organizations’ need for speed and scale when migrating to the cloud.

Grazed from HealthCareITNews. Author: John Donohue.

The shift to “as a service” type offerings began with Software as a Service (SaaS). Then Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) followed by Platform as a Service (PaaS) started to gain traction. All three of these options represent the variety of ways in which healthcare organizations can use cloud computing for virtual provisioning.

I think we are going to continue to see more “as a service” coming to the market in the future and, most recently, I’ve even seen a reference to XaaS or Anything/Everything as a Service. XaaS, which offers additional services like network and security, may actually deliver the true power of the cloud approach to computing…

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: James Bourne.

A few headlines in the tech and business press over recent months have attempted to shed light on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the public cloud. As reported by The Street last week, Brent Bracelin, senior research analyst at Pacific Crest, wrote: “We estimate that in the second half of this year, Microsoft’s Commercial Cloud segment could surpass Amazon Web Services in absolute revenue, becoming the largest public cloud platform for the first time in 10 years and firmly marking its transition from cloud laggard to cloud leader.”

Later that week, as reported by Business Insider, Deutsche Bank sounded a cautious note towards AWS, moving its price target down from $1,150 to $1,135. While noting the bank remains generally bullish towards AWS, criticism came from a ‘first-ever downtick from partners around the pace of large European enterprise cloud migrations.’…

Read more from the source @ https://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2017/jul/24/aws-azure-and-state-play-right-now/

Cloudian, the innovation leader in enterprise object storage systems, today launched its Data Management Partners Program. The Program combines leading data management products with Cloudian’s infinitely scalable storage to offer tested and proven solutions that enable enterprises to address current and future unstructured data growth challenges. Charter members of the Program include Rubrik, Komprise, Evolphin, and CTERA Networks.

"With unstructured data growing more than 50 percent each year, IT managers need effortlessly scalable solutions rather than temporary fixes. This new partner ecosystem delivers proven solutions for biggest capacity challenges, such as data protection, file management, and media archiving," said Michael Tso, CEO and co-founder of Cloudian. "Our customers can easily deploy these solutions to immediately simplify their infrastructure and save 70 percent on capacity costs, while delivering a long-term scalable solution for their data management needs."

Accelerite, a provider of software for digital transformation infrastructure, today announced the availability of its IoT visual design tool, Concert IoT Orchestrator: Starter Edition, on AWS Marketplace.

To simplify and speed development of enterprise-grade IoT applications, coders, non-coders, or anyone with a basic understanding of web service APIs now can drag and drop components to build applications that run on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for virtually any IoT use case – from smart cities and Industry 4.0 manufacturing to smart consumer devices.

"As one of the first IoT application development platforms on AWS Marketplace, Accelerite’s Concert IoT Orchestrator adds tremendous value to the selection for IoT services," said Barry Russell, General Manager of Global Business Development, AWS Marketplace and Catalog Services. "Accelerite’s Concert IoT Orchestrator is the latest addition to the growing list of services critical to IoT application development offered on AWS Marketplace, allowing customers to try a variety of solutions without upfront investment and find the best product for their needs."